To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.

Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good… Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.

Man the individual consoles himself for his passing with the thought of the offspring or the works which he leaves behind.

That’s something I think is growing on me as I get older: happy endings.

I don’t like to write like God. It is only because you never do it, though, that the critics think you can’t do it.

I have a personal ambition to live my life honestly and honor the true love that I’ve had and also the people I’ve had around me.

When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.

Whatever you are, be a good one.

In whatever adulation you get, there’s truth and there’s not truth. And wherever they dog you, and they say it was horrible – there’s truth and there’s not truth. It’s human nature to like to read the adulation more.

I’m not trying to follow a set of rules and stuff. I’m just living my life.

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.

The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone.

We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You’re always helping people.

One of the huge imbalances in life is the disparity between your daily existence, with its routines and habits, and the dream you have within yourself of some extraordinarily satisfying way of living.

Fear clogs; faith liberates.

And God help Bruce Springsteen when they decide he’s no longer God… They’ll turn on him, and I hope he survives it.

Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.

The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.

Control and surrender have to be kept in balance. That’s what surfers do – take control of the situation, then be carried, then take control. In the last few thousand years, we’ve become incredibly adept technically. We’ve treasured the controlling part of ourselves and neglected the surrendering part.

It seems like we wake up and it’s a race until you get to bed. It gets to you after a while and you think, ‚What the hell am I doing?‘

Whatever the universal nature assigns to any man at any time is for the good of that man at that time.

You’ll never rise any higher than the way you see yourself.

When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

Mere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o’clock in the morning can only produce writing that matches what they do. And that includes me.

Transforming yourself into a deep listener will not only prove more amusing as you open your mind to their mind, but you will gain the most invaluable lessons about human psychology.

For a long time I was scared I’d find out I was like my mother.

Test yourself on mankind. It is something that makes the doubter doubt, the believer believe.

What’s wrong with being a boring kind of guy?

It’s a philosophy of life. A practice. If you do this, something will change, what will change is that you will change, your life will change, and if you can change you, you can perhaps change the world.

There’s not a note of mine that’s worth the noting.

If you can’t tolerate critics, don’t do anything new or interesting.

When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.

So much of what we do every single day is the result of habits that we have formed over time.

Peace is one of the most precious gifts God has promised His children. I know, because for many years my life was not peaceful, and I was miserable.

A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are.

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‚If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?‘ And whenever the answer has been ‚No‘ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

I think I have a dualistic nature.

I have no time to think about other writers. I am too busy with my own problems.

I kinda live where I find myself.

I believe things cannot make themselves impossible.

I didn’t know how to deal with success. If there was a Rock Star 101, I would have liked to take it. It might have helped me.

A Religion of Evolution: that, when all is said and done, is what Man needs ever more explicitly if he is to survive and ‚superlive,‘ as soon as he becomes conscious of his power to ultra-hominize himself and of his duty to do so.

Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.

It’s not an easy course. It’s not designed to be. We’re not here to get you in touch with your inner child.

I don’t write so much now. I’m getting on 33, pot belly and creeping dementia.

Remorse sleeps during prosperity but awakes bitter consciousness during adversity.

I don’t think human beings learn anything without desperation. Desperation is a necessary ingredient to learning anything or creating anything. Period. If you ain’t desperate at some point, you ain’t interesting.

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem.

Through my films I’m eventually trying to one day tell the truth. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get there, but I’m slowly letting pieces of myself out there and then maybe by the time I’m 85, I’ll look back and say, ‚All right, that about sums it up.‘

I write for myself things that I’ve gone through.

It is possible to live happily in the here and the now. So many conditions of happiness are available – more than enough for you to be happy right now. You don’t have to run into the future in order to get more.

The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.

While you’re saving your face, you’re losing your ass.

Keeping score is for games, not friendships.

The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days.

I think writing really helps you heal yourself. I think if you write long enough, you will be a healthy person. That is, if you write what you need to write, as opposed to what will make money, or what will make fame.

The mainstream is always under attack.

I don’t think I’m an unlucky person.

By taking responsibility for how you choose to respond to anything or anyone, you’re aligning yourself with the beautiful dance of life.